Hello all,
I have an explorer 2 42 mm that I bought new from my AD in 2012 after it was released. At the time I sold a gmt2c to fund it here on TZ. I am youngish (32) and have a family so cant really afford more than one great watch. In any case enough about me lol. The watch is a daily 24/7 wearer and I first sent it in to RSC NYC in 2014 about 2 months after the warranty expired. The watch was stopping in the middle of the night around 1 am despite never being taken off. Much to my surprise RSC did a full overhaul at no cost to me despite my warranty being expired! I figured it would be good another 5-10 years but low and behold the same issue started again a month ago! I tried to contact Rolex NYC but the line was always busy and called Rolex Dallas. It had been 2 years and 3 months since the last service (not what I expected). I reluctantly sent it in and got in touch with them today. They emailed me a quote and again said they identified an issue and the watch would get another overhaul free of charge! They did recommend I replace a link since it was showing wear (never had an issue but I will oblige). In any case just wanted to see if anyone else has had poor reliability with this model or Rolex in general, if you have any suggestions, and your thoughts on RSC customer service. I am thinking of getting a ND sub or black bay blue or maybe going to another brand since I unfortunately have a bad taste in my mouth over Rolex. Thanks for reading and looking forward to your input.
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My initial thought is that these little mechanical devices CAN and WILL have issues. All brands. The 'free' work you've been offered out of warranty is exceptional; not every brand would do that, that's for sure. I would let them fix it again, and for me this would only help cement by brand loyalty.

I have had crappy in and out of warranty service from other brands . . . and NO brand is immune from mechanical issues.

I will agree that it is very good customer service. It's above and beyond and I really thought I was about to pay big bucks for an overhaul, but on the other hand I'd rather not need so much of it. It's hard being away for so long when watches go out and I am currently wearing a cheap mall watch from brookstine. My wrist feels naked!

It started running 6 minutes slow per day. I don't look at it as an indictment of the whole brand. Things happen. I'm happy it has a 5 year warranty. It's a bit of a hassle having to send it in but I took it to the AD and they did the shipping for me.

In close to 40 years of owning Rolex watches, I had two issues that didn't get resolved the first time, the first involving the rotor of a 16750 GMT, circa 1983. I recently did send my 15 year-old Daytona back close to the end of 2 year service warranty because it was about +8 sec/day. For some reason it always ran just outside the COSC specs. In the 12 weeks since it was returned, it has gained 45 seconds, so I think Rolex took my quibbling to heart. Other than those 2 events, I suppose I've been fortunate, although I am a bit of an outlier from others here, as I am pretty consistent in getting them serviced every 5-6 years. If Rolex is doing another complete service at no charge, they are going the extra mile to make it right. BTW, if you can find a good certified watchmaker through an AD, which I now do, they can get them running almost at the same accuracy level as the Rolex facilities, and they often will match the service warranty, less the shipping costs. Good luck.

With 45 watches purchased over the past 35 years I've only had 2 that had to be sent for repair. One was a brand new Patek Annual Calendar. Patek had the watch for about 8 weeks before I got it back. I was left a bit bewildered, and unnerved by the entire ordeal and subsequently sold the piece, (sellers remorse ). The other was a new Sub C date G series, the 1st year the SS model came out. After only 2 weeks I could hear a scraping sound coming from the case back then the watch stopped. I called my AD, he took it in and has his in house watchmaker re attach the rotor which had somehow come loose from it's bearing. It's worked fine ever since.

The moral of the story is as one of the previous forum members noted that these are intricate mechanical marvelous little machines and yes,even the mighty Rolex can and will occasionally have a problem. Just don't let one incident scare you away from a wonderful experience.

BTW, given the choice I'd go for the Sub C No Date it really is a great timepiece.

Thanks for the kind and positive words! Yeah I really do still love the watch and brand and will have to see how I feel when I gets back on he wrist. I was thinking I don't use the gmt or even date so am looking at time only pieces. The other one I like is the omega 300. One day I plan to be able to own a roster as nice as yours but I have a 2&4 y/o so my plans will have to wait. Have a great day!

Yeah my AD is in another state but does have a Rolex certified watchmaker. I figured it would cost about the same to ship it there but might cost a lot to repair. They also offer one free refinishing bit I'm gonna wait on hat till it's really ugly.

Yeah I am happy with the service, the ladies on the other hand took all my complaining with a smile! There have been a handful of companies in my life that have gone above and beyond, glad they could make the list.

Yeah sounds like I will definitely take a hit on this model, maybe I'll just get a few straps so it feels new again! Got an email today that work is starting and will be 3-4 weeks until it's complete :-( I keep trying to tell my wife this is why I need at least 2 Rolexes ;-)